People's Army of Vietnam

The North Vietnamese Army (NVA), also called the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN), was the armed forces of North Vietnam. Founded on 22 December 1944 as the Viet Minh of Ho Chi Minh, the NVA was best-known for its role in the Vietnam War against the South Vietnamese Army (SVA/ARVN) and the United States, conquering South Vietnam in 1975.

History
The Vietnam People's Army was founded on 22 December 1944 as the "Viet Minh", and this unit drove France out of Indochina in the Battle of Dien Bien Phu in 1954 after years of guerrilla warfare. That year, North Vietnam formally gained independence from France, and the PAVN/NVA was founded. North Vietnam had the privilege of support from the Soviet Union and China, who armed them with weapons, equipment, training, and funds, and they were able to supply the Viet Cong during their insurgency in South Vietnam from 1959 to 1975. The NVA played only a small role in the main course of the Vietnam War, only taking part in major offensives; most of the communist forces that waged guerrilla war against the SVA and United States were the Viet Cong. However, in 1959 the NVA invaded the Kingdom of Laos, in 1968 took part in the Tet Offensive, and in 1972 took part in the Easter Offensive. They took heavy losses at Tet and Easter, but they succeeded in decreasing public opinion of the war in America, which allowed for them to face less US troops as Vietnamization occurred. In 1973, the Paris Peace Accords ended the United States' involvement in Vietnam, and in 1975 the NVA marched into the South Vietnamese capital of Saigon, ending the war. In 1976, North and South Vietnam were formally reunited as the "Democratic Republic of Vietnam", a communist state that reunified the region.